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Just re-watched this after many years. I hold this dear to my heart in my anime life as it was one of the first I watched and totally blew me away as a kid. I used to have it on VHS a good while ago, but no longer have a player for that. It took me a while to find it on DVD, and I managed to pick up the Korean version on eBay.

Plot:

The film plot is pretty much two secret agents who protect this old (important) pervert against demons fall in love and beat the bad guy. IMDB’s bio is probably a bit more indepth than mine; here.

The Film (Spoilers):

Seriously, it has some beautiful scenes. Two of which stand out in my mind and have done since I first watched this. When Makie breaks the wall of the demon dimention. And when she is impregnanted and beats the bad guy. Jesus they will always stick in my mind. It does suffer a little from 80s anime style, but personally I much prefer eyes and faces drawn in this style than the newer style. It suffers slighly from 80s fashion in parts too. It’s probably not the BEST thing in the world, but it is to my tastes.

This Release:

This is the Korean version of the DVD, region free. It offers the Japanese original version and dubbed version, which is nice, as from my memories as a kid this film didn’t have the worst dubbing in the world. Also offers English and Korean subtitles (the subtitles themselves are very clear). The packaging is simple, the back is all in Korean so I have no clue. This release also is uncut to what I remember, which was kinda cool to see bits I hadn’t before (especially the dirty bits ;D)

Special Features:

Digitally Remastered in 5.1

Original Theatrical Trailers (JP/USA)

Character Biographies

Image Gallery

Exclusive Interview with the director, Yoshiaki Kawajiri

Dual Language Options for English and Japanese.

I honestly can say, these really don’t appeal to me as extras, but usually I only like outtakes when it comes to special features. Being remastered didn’t really make much difference to the original either.

Summary:

4/5 – I love it, but being realistic it probably isn’t the best thing I’ve seen in my life. I’m not that interested in the special features myself, but someone may find it interesting.

As I had the VHS of the above film and this one together, I thought I would put them both as a review as I have DVDs of them both these days. Although I prefer Kawajiri’s earlier film, this one again does stick in my mind. That and it has Mephisto and Chibi, both of which are very cool characters for very different reasons. I also like the stretchy lady.

Plot:

Some kid has to become a great fighter in this demon city to save everyone and the girls dad and yada yada. I’m really bad at writing film plots; here.

The Film (Spoilers):

Again, it has some wonderful scenes, but I think this one is a bit more…teeny? It’s more angst and coming of age, rather than the already adults of Wicked City. Saying that though, it isn’t for children at all. I think the story is a lot more..general anime feel too; you know the good guy is gonna win, so this one might appeal to a wider audience. Again it suffers a little of 80s fashion, but I really enjoy watching anime of this age, I really like to see the actual hand drawn and coloured stuff rather than it all being computer generated.

This Release:

Very plain, with no special features. Offers Japanese and English language, with English subtitles. It is region free. Once again the subtitles are very precise and easy to read. It offers Dolby 2.0 surround, but as we don’t have surround sound here, it’s no different.

Summary:

4/5 – Again, it’s not the most amazing thing in the world but it is worth a watch. It does bring back memories of me watching anime when they used to play it on SciFi late at night.